ISLAMABAD – The newly-appointed Iranian ambassador to Pakistan SyedMuhammad Ali Hussaini Sunday said that there existed a huge potential toenhance bilateral trade between Iran and Pakistan.
During a meeting with Chairman of Pakistan Industrial and TradersAssociation Front (PIAF) Mian Nauman Kabir in Lahore, the ambassador saidIran and Pakistan should concentrate on trade and economic activities tofurther improve bilateral relations.
The ambassador, who had a detailed discussion on trade and economicrelations between the two countries, said both the countries should adoptnew approach and move forward with a faster pace to strengthen trade ties.
He said though trade between the two countries was growing gradually, butstill it was below the potential and the business organizations of the twocountries should be given wake-up call so that they could play their duerole for the strengthening of trade and economic ties.
Iranian envoy hoped that mutual trade and economic relations would grow infuture and assured that Iranian embassy would extend full support to thetrade delegations.
PIAF chairman Mian Nauman Kabir, on this occasion, said despite beingbrotherly countries, Pak-Iran trade could not meet the potential. Hence,both the countries must make collective efforts to explore new avenues.
It has always been our struggle to promote bilateral trade and the PIAF hasa very positive approach towards improving trade ties particularly withneighboring countries.
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He pointed out that the bilateral trade between Pakistan and Iran was muchless than the potential as Pakistan exports stood at a mere $330.2 millionwhile the imports were around US $1.247 billion during 2018 which can beenhanced to US $ five billion within very short period.
Mian Nauman Kabir noted that the negotiations on Free Trade Agreement (FTA)are underway as both the countries have shared their desire of upgradingPreferential Trade Agreement (PTA) into the FTA for which initial draftshave already been shared while the State Bank of Pakistan has also shareddraft of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for signing its Banking PayingArrangement (BPA) with Central Bank of Iran.
He hoped that the desperately needed proper banking channel betweenPakistan and Iran becomes a reality soon which would surely boost theexisting trade ties.
PIAF chairman underscored the need to sort out infrastructural constraintsto enhance bilateral trade via the Quetta-Taftan land route whereas theregular operation of ECO container trains will lend impetus to cargo andtransit facilities between the two countries.
He said there were some bottlenecks in the way of increasing trade whichrequired to be addressed on priority basis. By reducing smuggling andundocumented trade, they could improve the figures of bilateral trade, hesaid.
